U.S. audit concludes Iowa misspent voting money, but owes nothing

Iowa won’t have to repay the federal government any money in connection with $2.5 million in misspent voting funds, even though federal rules were broken.

Audits found that state elections officials during Chet Culver’s watch as Iowa’s top elections official misspent money on entertainers, a gala, travel, get-out-the-vote radio advertisements, single-source contracts and other items.

For three years, state elections staff have worked to correct a long list of problems in an effort to avoid a large repayment, but federal officials concluded $221,000 in “disallowed costs” couldn’t be fixed or whittled down further.

However, the state won’t have to write a check to repay that money, said Secretary of State Michael Mauro said today.

Mauro asked federal officials to give the state a credit for expenses that were eligible for federal voting funds, but that Mauro chose to cover with state money knowing that questionable spending would likely need to be repaid.

U.S. Election Assistance Commission agreed to the deal.

“The nice thing about is it’s over with,” Mauro said.

Culver, who is now governor, has said all along that he believed all the money was spent appropriately. He decided the state should appeal.

But the election commission’s final ruling, released Tuesday, shows elections officials in Culver’s office broke the rules in several areas.

The auditors said Culver’s office misspent just over $118,000 in federal voting funds on an event called “Celebrate Voting,” including performance fees for opera singer Simon Estes, the Blue Band, and the Isiserettes, a Des Moines drumming troupe.

The activities took place in August 2005 when Culver was running for his first term as governor. He won in November 2006, and Mauro was elected secretary of state.

“When we came in there, it was a mess. It was a long process and it seemed like it would never end,” Mauro said today. “But I’m proud of the conclusion.”

The problems stemmed from misspending of money from the 2002 Help America Vote Act program, from which Iowa received $30 million.

State Auditor David Vaudt was the first to identify six violations of federal rules and misspending of $61,000. Federal auditors then found more and more problems. In the midst of state appeals, auditors continued to investigate and eventually identified $2.5 million in questionable spending.

Mauro and his staff made corrections and negotiated for a lower amount. In June, the election commission ordered the state to repay $576,000.

There were three unresolved problems, according to auditors:

– Bids were not sought for contracts paid for with federal voting money, including some work done by the State Public Policy Group, a consulting firm. Auditors ordered the state to repay $443,505, but Mauro and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office worked to reduce the amount to $88,701, Tuesday’s final report shows.

– A program called “Celebrate Voting” spent federal voting money on speakers, entertainment, supplies, medallions for honorees, children’s activities, a gala, travel, space rental, and a traveling exhibit that told the story of the struggle for voting rights, auditors said. The spending didn’t meet rules for voting technology, educating voters on voting rights and voting procedures, the auditors said. They ordered the state to refund $118,224. That amount was final, Tuesday’s report shows.

– Culver and his staff used $14,000 in federal voting money for radio advertisements urging Iowans to vote. Auditors ordered all $14,000 be repaid, the final report states.

Altogether, the state was ordered to repay $220,925, the final report shows.